Bitcoin looks to reclaim $64,000 in a potential short squeeze after previously falling to as low as $63,000 following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.
At the same time, perpetual futures funding rates fell to -6%, according to CoinGlass, marking the second lowest level in the last three months. The last time the funding was this negative was on February 6, when bitcoin bottomed near $60,000.
Perpetual funding rates represent the periodic payments exchanged between traders in the perpetual futures markets. When rates are positive, traders holding long positions pay those holding short positions. When rates go negative, the shorts pay the longs.
Deeply negative financing typically indicates aggressive shorting and bearish sentiment, as traders are willing to pay a premium to maintain bearish bets.
Meanwhile, coin-margined open interest increased from 668,000 BTC to 687,000 BTC in the last 24 hours.
Measuring open interest in terms of BTC eliminates the distortion caused by price swings. Rising open interest coupled with negative funding suggests growing participation, with an increasing proportion of traders positioned for greater downside.
In the last 24 hours, more than $500 million worth of crypto positions have been liquidated, according to data from CoinGlass. Most of those liquidations were long positions, representing more than $420 million, highlighting the scale of forced selling as prices fell.
